Windows Vista Release Notes - Nvidia's Download site!!

Release 186 Graphics Drivers 

Release Notes 

Version 186.81 

Rev. A 

For Windows Vista 32-bit 

and Windows Vista 64-bit 

NVIDIA Corporation 

September 3, 2009

Published by 


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Table of Contents 

1. Introduction to Release Notes 

Structure of the Document . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 

Changes in this Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 

2. Release 186 Driver Changes 

Version 186.81 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 

What’s New in Release 186 . . . . . . . . . . 3 

What’s New in Version 186.81 . . . . . . . . . 5 

Limitations in This Release. . . . . . . . . . . 5 

Changes in Version 186.81 . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 

Fixed Issues–Windows Vista 32-bit . . . . . . 6 








Open Issues in Version 186.81 . . . . . . . . . 10 

Windows Vista 32-bit Issues . . . . . . . . . 10 

Windows Vista 64-bit Issues . . . . . . . . . 11 

Not NVIDIA Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 

Windows Vista Limitations . . . . . . . . . . 12 

Unsupported Features . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 

OpenGL Application Issues . . . . . . . . . 14 

Application Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 

Known Product Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . 16 

Image Sharpening Control not Available with 

GeForce 8 Series and later GPUs . . . . . 16 

Gigabyte GA-6BX Motherboard . . . . . . . 16 

3. The Release 186 Driver 

Hardware and Software Support . . . . . . . . 17 

Supported Operating Systems . . . . . . . . 17 

Supported NVIDIA Products . . . . . . . . . 18 

Supported Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 

Driver Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 

Minimum Hard Disk Space . . . . . . . . . . 22 

Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 

Installation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 

A. Mode Support for Windows 

General Mode Support Information . . . . . . . 24 

Default Modes Supported by GPU . . . . . . . 25 

Understanding the Mode Format. . . . . . . 25 

GeForce 9M, 8M, 100M, 200M and Quadro NVS 

and Quadro FX Notebook GPUs. . . . . . 26 

Modes Supported by TV Encoders . . . . . . . 29 


i



List of Tables 

Table 3.1 Supported NVIDIA GeForce GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 

Table 3.2 Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 

Table 3.3 Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 

Table A.1 Modes Supported for High Resolution Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 

Table A.2 Non-standard Modes Supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 

Table A.3 Mode Support for S-Video and Composite Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 

Table A.4 Mode Support for Component YPrPb Out and DVI Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 

NVIDIA Corporation ii CONFIDENTIAL

Release 186 Graphics Driver Version 186.81 

C HAPTER 

INTRODUCTION TO RELEASE NOTES 

This edition of Release Notes describes the Release 186 Graphics Drivers for Microsoft ® 

Windows ® Vista. NVIDIA provides these notes to describe performance 

improvements and bug fixes in each documented version of the driver. 

This is a reference driver that can be installed on supported NVIDIA GeForce, 

Quadro NVS, and Quadro FX notebook GPUs. However, please note that your 

notebook original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides certified drivers for your 

specific notebook on their website. NVIDIA recommends that you check with your 

notebook OEM about recommended software updates for your notebook. OEMs may 

not provide technical support for issues that arise from the use of this driver. 

Structure of the Document 

This document is organized in the following sections: 

• “Release 186 Driver Changes” on page 2 gives a summary of changes, and fixed and 

open issues in this version. 

• “The Release 186 Driver” on page 17 describes the NVIDIA products and languages 

supported by this driver, the system requirements, and how to install the driver. 

• “Mode Support for Windows” on page 23 lists the default resolutions supported by 

the driver. 

Changes in this Edition 

This edition of the Release Notes for Windows Vista includes information about 

NVIDIA graphics driver version 186.81, and lists changes made to the driver since 

version 179.48. These changes are discussed beginning with the chapter “Release 186 

Driver Changes” on page 2. 

NVIDIA Corporation 1

Graphics Drivers, Release 186 Version 186.81 

C HAPTER 

RELEASE 186 DRIVER CHANGES 

This chapter describes open issues for version 186.81, and resolved issues and 

driver enhancements for versions of the Release 186 driver up to version 186.81. 

The chapter contains these sections: 

• “Version 186.81 Highlights” on page 3 

• “Changes in Version 186.81” on page 6 




• “Open Issues in Version 186.81” on page 10 

• “Not NVIDIA Issues” on page 13 

• “Known Product Limitations” on page 16 

NVIDIA Corporation CONFIDENTIAL 2


Version 186.81 Highlights 

This section provides highlights of version 186.81 of the NVIDIA Release 186 Driver 

for Windows Vista. 

• What’s New in Release 186 

• What’s New in Version 186.81 

• Limitations in This Release 

What’s New in Release 186 

•This is a reference driver for Quadro FX, Quadro NVS series, GeForce 8M, 

9M, 100M, and 200M series notebook GPUs. 

Some notebooks are not supported by this release. Refer to the “Supported NVIDIA 

Products” on page 18 for the list of supported GPUs and notebooks. 

NVIDIA Control Panel Updates 

3D Settings 

• Ambient Occlusion setting (new in the Manage 3D Settings page for Windows 

Vista) 

Ambient occlusion enhances depth perception and adds realism to 3D scenes by 

providing a soft shadow effect to objects based on their placement in the scene. 

• SLI Antialiasing (new in the Manage 3D Settings page for Windows Vista) 

Now available under Windows Vista as well as Windows XP. 

• Workstation/Quad‐buffered 3D Stereo (new Stereo‐Display mode settings in the 

Manage 3D Settings page) 

Added support for the following stereoscopic 3D hardware and modes: 

• GeForce 3D Vision hardware–generic active stereo, via on‐board DIN connector, 

passive (Clone mode) modes, and 3D DLP display 

• Generic active stereo 

• Horizontal interlaced stereo displays 

• Sub‐field stereo displays 

• Side‐field stereo displays 

• SeeFront Autostereoscopic LCD 

• Texas Instruments 3D Ready DLP® (Digital Light Processing technology) 

displays 

• Tridelity Multi‐View and Single‐Viewer displays 


Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues 

Version 186.81 Highlights 

• Planar StereoMirror TM displays 

Display 

• Set up Multiple Displays (revised under Windows Vista) 

In Release 185, when SLI mode is enabled, users can now select a display from 

different GPUs as long as the GPUs are in the same SLI group. 

• Displays must still be connected to the same GPU under Clone mode. 

• Quad SLI: When using GeForce X2, Quadro X2, or the GeForce GTX 295 

graphics cards, only GPUs that have two display connectors can be used to drive 

displays. Typically, display connectors lined up on the same slot position are 

connected to the same GPU. 

• NVIDIA recommends connecting displays to the same GPU to shorten the driver 

reload time on the initial setup. 

• Adjust Desktop Color Settings page (revised under Windows Vista) 

Applications now have the option of controlling the desktop color settings. 

Video & Television 

• HDCP Status 

New page for verifying whether the system is HDCP‐capable 

• Adjust TV Color Settings page (revised under Windows Vista) 

Applications now have the option of controlling the TV color settings. 

Display Driver Updates 

Device Support 

Added support for EDID‐like devices. 

Hotplug Behavior 

When hotplugging or hot‐unplugging a digital display, the driver detects the display 

and then configures the multi‐display mode and display resolution based on the 

recent record of the displays connected. If no record exists, then the driver applies 

default settings. A popup message appears at the system notification tray to alert the 

user of the change. 

The automatic display configuration also occurs upon powering on the computer and 

booting into Windows Vista if the driver detects a change in display connections since 

the last Windows session. 

Notebook-Specific Updates 

NVIDIA Display Power Saving technology option appears in the Windows Vista 

Power Options‐>Advanced settings tab . 

4 NVIDIA Corporation


Video Updates 

• Compute‐based DVD upscaling 

• CUDA Video Encoder 1.1: Added support for CUDA‐enabled GPUs with less than 

32 cores to the NVIDIA Video Encoding library. 

CUDA Updates 

• CUDA 2.2 

• CUDA Video Encoder V1.1: Added support for CUDA‐enabled GPUs with less 

than 32 cores to the NVIDIA Video Encoding library. 

OpenGL Updates 

• Support for OpenGL 3.0 

• Implemented NVX_shader_buffer_load (OpenGL Shading Language). 

What’s New in Version 186.81 

• Supports NVIDIA PhysX hardware acceleration on GeForce notebook GPUs 

with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory and a minimum of 

32 processor cores. 

This driver package installs NVIDIA PhysX System Software v9.09.0428. 

• Added support for the following Hybrid SLI notebooks: 

• Dell Studio XPS1340 

• MSI EX630 

• Qosmio X305‐Q706 

• Qosmio X305‐Q708 

•See “Changes in Version 186.81” on page 6 for a list of resolved issues. 

Limitations in This Release 

The following are features that are not currently supported or have limited support in 

this driver release: 

NVIDIA Control Panel features that are Not Yet Available 

Support for the following control panel features is under development and not yet 

available under Windows Vista: 

•Display Category 

• The Graph tab on the Adjust Desktop Color Settings page is not available. 


Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues Changes in Version 186.81 

Changes in Version 186.81 

The following sections list the changes made and issues resolved since driver version 

186.03. 

The NVIDIA bug number and driver module are provided for reference. 

Fixed Issues–Windows Vista 32-bit 

Multi- GPU Issues Resolved 

• [SLI], GeForce 8800M GTX: The PhysX option is disabled by default after driver 

installation. [544945] 





185.85. 



Single- GPU Issues Resolved 

• GeForce 8800M GTX: The graphics driver installation fails on some GeForce 8800M 

GTX notebooks. [552077] 


Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues Changes in Version 185.85 



185.81. 



Single- GPU Issues 

• Company of Heroes DirectX 10– scrolling the camera side to side causes hitching 

despite a high frame rate when stationary. [538673] 





179.48. 




• GeForce 9500M/9400M: The multi‐display mode switches from Dualview to singledisplay 

mode after changing the resolution and scaling option for the secondary 

display. [510300] 

• GeForce 8800M GTX: External HDMI TV cannot be set to single‐display mode, and 

cannot be set as the primary Clone mode or Dualview mode display.[470434] 

Multi- GPU Issues 

• [SLI], GeForce8800M GTX: Bioshock–the game hangs with a blank screen when 

toggling to the full‐screen mode using Alt+Tab at 1920x1200. [486274] 



• GeForce 8800M GTX: With HDTV connected to component‐out and enabled in 

single‐display mode, the display switches to the LVDS upon resume from Sleep or 

Hibernate mode. [457620] 


Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues Open Issues in Version 186.81 

Open Issues in Version 186.81 

As with every released driver, version 186.81 of the Release 186 driver has open issues 

and enhancement requests associated with it. This section includes lists of issues that 

are either not fixed or not implemented in this version. Some problems listed may not 

have been thoroughly investigated and, in fact, may not be NVIDIA issues. Others 

may have workaround solutions. Many of these issues are system‐specific and may 

not be seen on your particular notebook. 

• “Windows Vista 32‐bit Issues” on page 10 

• “Windows Vista 64‐bit Issues” on page 11 

Windows Vista 32-bit Issues 

Single GPU Issues 

• ION system: With an external display connected, the display numbering changes 

after resuming from Sleep/Hibernate mode, whether in single‐display or Dualview 

mode. [572614] 

Quadro FX Series 

• Quadro FX 3700M: When resuming from lid‐close activated Sleep mode, keyboard 

and mouse response is very sluggish. [521241] 

• Quadro FX 2700M:The NVIDIA Control Panel shows an extra display on the ”Set 

up multiple displays” page. [540993] 

GeForce 9M Series 

• GeForce 9700M GTS: The system does not resume from Standby/Sleep mode. 

[542034] 

• GeForce 9600M GT: The shortcut keys for selecting the color option in the NVIDIA 

Control Panel ʹAdjust video color settingʹ page do not work. [515450] 

• GeForce 9600M GT: With Clone mode enabled and the LVDS set to “Do not scale”, 

the LVDS resolution cannot be changed.[469380] 

• GeForce 9600M GT: Hot keys (keyboard shortcut) for selecting the ʹcolorʹ option in 

the ʹAdjust video color settingʹ page do not work.[515450] 

• GeForce 9400M G: With the system set to single‐display mode, clicking “Restore 

Defaults” from the NVIDIA Control Panel Setup Multiple Displays page results in 

the page showing that the secondary display is enabled. [561570] 

• GeForce 9400M G: Hot‐key display switching fails on first attempt after switching 

displays using the NVIDIA Control Panel. [569456] 

• GeForce 9400M G: The settings on the “Change Flat Panel Scaling” page are not 

updated properly after resizing the desktop and then restoring the default settings. 

[510854] 



• GeForce 9400M G: Under Clone mode, each display has different video color 

settings from the NVIDIA Control Panel “Adjust Video Color Settings” page. 

[505275] 

GeForce 8M Series 

• GeForce 8700M GT: VGA hotplug/unplug is not detected without refreshing the 

NVIDIA Control Panel or the Device Manager. [461613] 

• GeForce 8600M GS: When a display is connected via component‐out and Clone 

mode is enabled, the system switches to Dualview mode upon resume from 

Hibernate [490576] 

Multi-GPU Issues 

• [Hybrid SLI], GeForce 9400M: The Resize HDTV desktop settings are not preserved 

after resuming from Standby/Hibernate mode right after switching to Hybrid Save 

power mode. [576168] 

• [Hybrid SLI], Dell Studio XPS 13 (GeForce 9500M): After overinstalling the driver, 

only one adapter is listed in Device Manager and Hybrid SLI functionality is not 

available. [590063] 

To workaround the issue, first uninstall your existing driver before installing this new 

driver. 

• [SLI], GeForce 8800M GTX: Far Cry 2 (DirectX 10)–sky textures show flickering 

corruption when changing the in‐game resolution during gameplay. [492934] 

• [SLI], GeForce 8800M GTX: The display list on the Set SLI Configuration page is not 

updated properly when hot‐plugging or hot‐unplugging a display. [478691] 


Chapter 2: Release 186 Driver Issues Open Issues in Version 186.81 

Windows Vista 64-bit Issues 

Single GPU Issues 

• GeForce 9600M GT: The shortcut keys for selecting the color option in the NVIDIA 

Control Panel ʹAdjust video color settingʹ page do not work. [515450] 

• GeForce 9400M G: Hot‐key display switching fails on first attempt after switching 

displays using the NVIDIA Control Panel. [569456] 

• GeForce 9400M G: The settings on the “Change Flat Panel Scaling” page are not 

updated properly after resizing the desktop and then restoring the default settings. 

[510854] 

Multi-GPU Issues 

• [Hybrid SLI], Dell Studio XPS 13 (GeForce 9500M): After overinstalling the driver, 

only one adapter is listed in Device Manager and Hybrid SLI functionality is not 

available. [590063] 

To workaround the issue, first uninstall your existing driver before installing this new 

driver. 

• [SLI], GeForce 8800M GTX: Multi‐display mode is not preserved between users 

after performing a Fast User Switch. [541252] 



Not NVIDIA Issues 

This section lists issues that are not due to the NVIDIA driver as well as features that 

are not meant to be supported by the NVIDIA driver for Windows Vista. 

• “Windows Vista Limitations” on page 12 

• “Unsupported Features” on page 13 

• “OpenGL Application Issues” on page 14 

• “Application Issues” on page 15 

Windows Vista Limitations 

These are behaviors that may be different from Windows XP and are related directly to 

the Windows Vista operating system. 

• NVIDIA TurboCache 

Windows Vista now controls the allocation of system memory to the GPU for 

TurboCache functions. The Windows Vista Display Properties pages show the 

shared system memory (SSM), or how much memory is allocated for NVIDIA GPUs 

to use for TurboCache. 

For more information on graphics memory reporting under Windows Vista, visit 

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/graphicsmemory.mspx. 




Unsupported Features 

The following are features and functionality that were available in driver releases 

supporting Windows XP, but are not–and will not be–available in driver releases for 

Windows Vista: 

• High resolution scaling desktop (HRSD) 

• MultiView Display Mode (for NVIDIA Quadro NVS graphics cards) 

• NVKeystone 

• Unified back buffer (UBB) controls 

• OpenGL Video Overlays 

This is an operating system limitation. 

Vista window manager features will provide new ways of accomplishing overlays, 

but will require application porting. 

• Overclocking 

GPU overclocking is no longer supported in the default GPU driver control panel. 

This feature is available in the NVIDIA System Tools software, which you can 

download from NVIDIA.com. 

• GPU Temperature Monitoring 

Temperature monitoring is no longer supported in the default GPU driver control 

panel. This feature is available in the NVIDIA System Tools software, which you 

can download from NVIDIA.com. 

• AGP Settings Adjustment 

• Video Zoom 

• Pan & Scan ‐ the process of panning across the desktop in order to display a 

desktop on a monitor with lower resolution 

• Per‐display Desktop Color Setting Adjustments 

For Clone mode, the desktop color setting adjustments through the NVIDIA 

Control Panel can only be made across all displays in a system, and not on a perdisplay 

basis. 

• Per‐display Video Color Setting Adjustments 

For Dualview mode, the video color setting adjustments through the NVIDIA 

Control Panel can only be made across all displays in a system, and not on a perdisplay 

basis. 

• Edge Blending 

• Run display optimization wizard 

• Run multiple display wizard 



• Run television setup wizard 

• nView Horizontal and Vertical Span Modes 

Due to architectural changes in the new Windows Vista Window Display Driver 

Model (WDDM), span mode cannot be supported in NVIDIA graphics drivers. 

NVIDIA recommends using the built‐in Windows Vista multi‐display modes. 

• Display/Connection Wizard (such as was provided with Windows Media Center 

Edition) 

• DVD/MPEG Extensions (such as was provided with Windows Media Center 

Edition) 

• Audio Extensions (such as was provided with Windows Media Center Edition) 

• NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager 

The nView Desktop Manager will not be included in drivers for GeForce products. 

OpenGL Application Issues 

The following are known compatibility issues for OpenGL applications developed 

under Windows XP: 

• Mixed GDI and OpenGL rendering does not work. 

A number of applications use GDI to render UI components and object 

highlighting. This is not supported in the Windows Vista driver model. 

NVIDIA recommends converting GDI rendering to OpenGL. 

The following are some applications that are known to have this issue: 

• Maya 7.01 

• Applications, Tools, and Benchmarks not Supported Under Windows Vista 

• GLperf 

• 3ds max 8 (later releases may be supported) 

• CATIA V5R15 (V5R16 is supported) 

• PTC’s CDRS 2001 

• Front buffered rendering may be slow, especially when DWM is enabled. 

Flushing the rendering queue while rendering to the front buffer may cause the 

window manager to recomposite. Applications should therefore minimize the 

frequency with which they flush the rendering queue. 




Application Issues 

• GeForce 8600M GT: Warmonger 2.1–the game intermittently stops responding after 

changing in‐game resolution. [482889] 

• GeForce 8600M GT: Dead Space ‐ a “your graphics card does not meet Dead Space 

minimum requirement” error message appears after launching the game. 

[491410] 

This is a limitation of the application, and only occurs if your monitor does not support 60 

Hz refresh rate. 

• GeForce 8600M GT: MPEG1 and MPEG2 playback using iTunes is choppy. [537550] 

The application does not use hardware acceleration. 



Known Product Limitations 

Known Product Limitations 

This section describes problems that will not be fixed. Usually, the source of the 

problem is beyond the control of NVIDIA. Following is the list of problems and where 

they are discussed in this document: 

• “Image Sharpening Control not Available with GeForce 8 Series and later 

GPUs” on page 16 

• “Gigabyte GA‐6BX Motherboard” on page 16 

Image Sharpening Control not Available with GeForce 8 

Series and later GPUs 

With GeForce 8 Series and later graphics cards, the Image sharpening slider on the 

NVIDIA Control Panel‐> Display‐>Adjust Desktop Color Settings page is grayed out. 

This control is intentionally disabled because image sharpening is not supported on 

GeForce 8 series and later GPUs. 

Gigabyte GA-6BX Motherboard 

This motherboard uses a LinFinity regulator on the 3.3‐V rail that is rated to only 5 A— 

less than the AGP specification, which requires 6 A. When diagnostics or applications 

are running, the temperature of the regulator rises, causing the voltage to the NVIDIA 

chip to drop as low as 2.2 V. Under these circumstances, the regulator cannot supply 

the current on the 3.3‐V rail that the NVIDIA chip requires. 

This problem does not occur when the graphics board has a switching regulator or 

when an external power supply is connected to the 3.3‐V rail. 



C HAPTER 

THE RELEASE 186 DRIVER 

This chapter covers the following main topics: 

• “Hardware and Software Support” on page 17 

• “Driver Installation” on page 22 

Hardware and Software Support 

Supported Operating Systems 

The Release 186 driver, version 186.81, has been tested with Microsoft Windows® 

Vista RTM OS builds version 6000 or higher, and supports both 32‐bit and 64‐bit 

versions of Windows Vista Editions: 

• Windows Vista Home Basic 

• Windows Vista Home Premium 

• Windows Vista Business 

• Windows Vista Enterprise Edition 

• Windows Vista Ultimate 




Supported NVIDIA Products 

• “Supported GeForce GPUs” on page 18 

• “Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs” on page 19 

• “Supported NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs” on page 20 

Supported GeForce GPUs 

Table 3.1 lists the NVIDIA products supported by the Release 186 driver, version 

186.81 

Table 3.1 

Supported NVIDIA GeForce GPUs 

Consumer Products 

GeForce GTX 280M 

GeForce GTX 260M 

GeForce GTS 160M 

GeForce GT 130M 

GeForce GT 120M 

GeForce G 102M 





GeForce 9800M GTX 

GeForce 9800M GTS 

GeForce 9800M GT 

GeForce 9800M GS 








GeForce 9500M G 


GeForce 9400M 




GeForce 9200M GE 


GeForce 8800M GTX 






Table 3.1 Supported NVIDIA GeForce GPUs 








The driver supports notebooks based on the GPUs listed in Table 3.1. However, the 

following notebooks are not supported in this release: 

• Hybrid SLI notebooks: 

• Acer Aspire 7530 

• BenQ Joybook S42 

• Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 3650 

• Fujitsu notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for 

these notebooks) 

• Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver 

support for these notebooks) 

• Sony VAIO notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for 

these notebooks) 

• Any notebook that is launched after the release of this driver version. 

Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs 


186.81 

Table 3.2 Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs 


Quadro NVS 320 

Quadro NVS 160M 





The driver supports notebooks based on the GPUs listed in Table 3.2. However, the 

following notebooks are not supported in this release: 




• Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver 

support for these notebooks) 

• Any notebook that is launched after the release of this driver version. 

Supported NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs 


186.81 

Table 3.3 

Supported NVIDIA Quadro NVS GPUs 


Quadro FX 3700M 









Supported Languages 

The Release 186 Graphics Drivers supports the following languages in the main driver 

Control Panel: 

English (USA) German Portuguese (Euro/Iberian) 

English (UK) Greek Russian 

Arabic Hebrew Slovak 

Chinese (Simplified) Hungarian Slovenian 

Chinese (Traditional) Italian Spanish 

Czech Japanese Spanish (Latin America) 

Danish Korean Swedish 

Dutch Norwegian Thai 

Finnish Polish Turkish 

French 

Portuguese (Brazil) 



Driver Installation 

Minimum Hard Disk Space 

The hard disk space requirement is minimum 200 MB. 

Before You Begin 

• If you have previously installed NVIDIA nTune, NVIDIA recommends that you 

uninstall nTune before installing this driver. After the driver install is complete, you 

can reinstall NVIDIA nTune. 

• Check to make sure that your notebook has a supported GPU and is not listed in the 

exclusion list (see “Supported NVIDIA Products” on page 18). 

• It is recommended that you back up your current system configuration. 

• If you own a Dell Inspiron 1420, Dell XPS M1330, or Dell XPS M1530, Dell 

LatitudeD630 or D630c, it is highly recommended that you first install this Dell 

software update. 

Installation Instructions 

1 Follow the instructions on the NVIDIA .com Web site driver download page to 

locate the appropriate driver to download, based on your hardware and operating 

system. 

2 Click the driver download link. 

3 The license agreement dialog box appears. 

4 Click Accept if you accept the terms of the agreement, then either open the file or 

save the file to your PC and open it later. 

5 Extract the zip files to a temporary folder on your PC. 

6 Open the NVIDIA driver installation .EXE file to launch the NVIDIA InstallShield 

Wizard. 

7 Follow the instructions in the NVIDIA InstallShield Wizard to complete the 

installation. 

Note: After the driver installation, Windows may default to 16‐bpp color and disable 

the Desktop Window Manager (DWM). To work around this issue, set the color 

to 32‐bpp and then reboot the PC. 



Driver Installation 



A PPENDIX 

MODE SUPPORT FOR WINDOWS 

This chapter details the Windows modes supported by the Release 186 driver for 

NVIDIA products. It contains these sections: 

• “General Mode Support Information” on page 24 

• “Default Modes Supported by GPU” on page 25 

• “Modes Supported by TV Encoders” on page 29 


Chapter A: Release 186 Driver Issues 

General Mode Support Information 

General Mode Support Information 

The NVIDIA graphics driver includes a standard list of display modes that are 

supported by default. These modes are listed in the section “Default Modes 

Supported by GPU” on page 25. 

The actual modes available depend on the capabilities of the display. In addition, the 

NVIDIA graphics driver has a “dynamic EDID detection” capability and will make 

available additional modes that are listed in the display EDID, provided the graphics 

hardware can support it. 

The NVIDIA graphics driver also supports the high resolutions available with the 

displays listed in Table A.1 as well as the non‐standard modes listed in Table A.2. 

Table A.1 

Modes Supported for High Resolution Displays 

Display 

Apple 30” Cinema HD 

Display (Dual link DVI) 

Dell WFP 3007 

(Dual Link DVI) 

HP LP3065 dual‐link 

DVI flat panel 

Maximum 

Resolution 

2560x1600 

@ 60 Hz 

2560x1600 

@ 60 Hz 

2560x1600 

@ 60Hz. 

Hardware Requirements 

• All GeForce 7 series GPUs and later 

• GeForce 6800 Ultra 512 

• GeForce 6800 with 512 MB 

Table A.2 Non-standard Modes Supported 

Resolution 

1680 x 1050 

1366 x 768 



Default Modes Supported by GPU 

This section lists the modes that are included by default in the driver INF for the 

following product families: 

• “GeForce 9M, 8M, 100M, 200M and Quadro NVS and Quadro FX Notebook 

GPUs” on page 26 

Understanding the Mode Format 

Figure A.1 gives an example of how to read the mode information presented in this 

section. 

Resolution 

Color Depth 

Refresh Rates 

Example entry: 1024 x 768 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 

Meaning: Resolution: 1024 x 768 

Color depth: 32 bpp 

Refresh rates: 60 Hz, 70 Hz, 72 Hz, 75 Hz, 85 Hz, 100 Hz, 120 Hz, 

140 Hz, 144 Hz, 150 Hz, 170 Hz, and 200 Hz 

Figure A.1 

Note: 

Mode Format 

• Horizontal spanning modes of 3840x1080 and above, and vertical spanning 

modes of 1920x2160 and above generally require at least 32 MB of video memory 

at 32 bpp. 

• An “i” next to the refresh rate indicates an interlaced refresh rate. 




GeForce 9M, 8M, 100M, 200M and Quadro NVS and Quadro 

FX Notebook GPUs 

This sections lists the supported display resolutions, color depths, and refresh rates for 

the products listed in Table 3.1, Table 3.2, andTable 3.3. 

Standard Modes 

640 x 480 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

800 x 600 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

848 x 480 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

960 x 600 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1024 x 768 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1088 x 612 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1152 x 864 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 

1280 x 720 8 60 

1280 x 768 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 800 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 960 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 1024 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1360 x 768 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1600 x 900 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 

1600 x 1024 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 

1600 x 1200 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 

1680 x 1050 8 60 

1920 x 1080 8 60 

1920 x 1200 8 60 70 72 75 85 100 

1920 x 1440 8 60 70 72 75 85 

2048 x 1536 8 60 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

640 x 480 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

800 x 600 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

848 x 480 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

960 x 600 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1024 x 768 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1088 x 612 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1152 x 864 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 

1280 x 720 16 60 



1280 x 768 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 800 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 960 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 1024 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1360 x 768 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1600 x 900 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 

1600 x 1024 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 

1600 x 1200 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 

1680 x 1050 16 60 

1920 x 1080 16 60 

1920 x 1200 16 60 70 72 75 85 100 

1920 x 1440 16 60 70 72 75 85 

2048 x 1536 16 60 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

640 x 480 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

800 x 600 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

848 x 480 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

960 x 600 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1024 x 768 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1088 x 612 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1152 x 864 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 

1280 x 720 32 60 

1280 x 768 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 800 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 960 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 1024 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1360 x 768 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1600 x 900 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 

1600 x 1024 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 

1600 x 1200 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 

1680 x 1050 32 60 

1920 x 1080 32 60 

1920 x 1200 32 60 70 72 75 85 100 

1920 x 1440 32 60 70 72 75 85 

2048 x 1536 32 60 

------------------------------------------------------------------ 

640 x 480 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

800 x 600 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

848 x 480 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 




960 x 600 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1024 x 768 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1088 x 612 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 240 

1152 x 864 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 200 

1280 x 720 64 60 

1280 x 768 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 800 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 960 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1280 x 1024 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1360 x 768 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 170 

1600 x 900 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 140 144 150 

1600 x 1024 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 

1600 x 1200 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 

1680 x 1050 64 60 

1920 x 1080 64 60 

1920 x 1200 64 60 70 72 75 85 100 

1920 x 1440 64 60 70 72 75 85 

2048 x 1536 64 60 



Modes Supported by TV Encoders 

Table A.3 and Table A.4 list the NTSC, PAL, and HDTV TV‐Out modes supported by 

the NVIDIA driver. 

Table A.3 

Mode Support for S-Video and Composite Out 

Resolution Bit depth Comments 

320x200 8, 16, 32 DirectDraw mode; not selectable as a Windows desktop 



640x480 8, 16, 32 

720x480 8, 16, 32 Overscans (for video) 

720x576 8, 16, 32 Overscans (for video) 

800x600 8, 16, 32 

1024x768 8, 16, 32 Conexant 25871 only 

Table A.4 

Resolution 

480i (SDTV) 

480p (EDTV) 

720p (HDTV) 

1080i (HDTV) 

576i (PAL) 

576p (PAL) 

Mode Support for Component YPrPb Out and DVI Out 

Comments 

Supported on graphics boards with Conexant 875 or Philips 7108 TV 

encoders and compatible connectors, and compatible GeForce 6 Series 

and GeForce 7 Series GPUs. 

The driver supports manual overscan correction for component and DVI outputs. See 

the ForceWare Graphics Driver User’s Guide for instructions on how to use the 

overscan correction features in the control panel.

Windows Vista Release Notes - Nvidia's Download site!!

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